It was a test. God knew how they respond but it was a test anyway because the Lord had a point to make.
He told Jeremiah, the great prophet of the time, to invite the Rechabites to the temple. While there they were to be served wine. It would have been dishonoring for them to deny lavish hospitality and to deny what the prophet requested of them, but they did. With respect, but they did.
The told Jeremiah of how their ancestor had told them that they were never to drink wine, build houses or plant fields, but rather were to live in tents. Not sure how they made their money but this is what they were told to do.
Since the time their ancestor had made that decree, that’s exactly how they lived. They didn’t drink wine, build houses or plant fields like everyone else. They were more nomadic in nature. Actually makes me wonder if today’s Bedouins had their roots in this people group.
But it wasn’t about the Lord trying to trick them to drink wine. He had something to say to Israel. He upheld their example.
Here were a people who generations later were still honoring and obeying the words of their ancestor. And what they did was very counter-cultural. The Rechabites listened and obeyed the wisdom of their ancestors, but the people of Israel did not listen or obey their God. And how much greater is to listen to God Almighty?
Therefore the Lord’s judgment would come against Jerusalem and Judah. They would be destroyed by the Babylonians.
And the Rechabites? The Lord said that since they were a people of honor, honoring the ways of their ancestors and not living a life of compromise, that they would never fail to have someone stand before Him. A great honor. An honor worthy of a noble people.
